Poor Showing of Bosnian Olympians Blamed on Lack of Money

The head of the Bosnian Swimming Association blames the lack of state support for humble results so far from Bosnia's Olympians.

Klix.ba

Sarajevo

So far Bosnian Olympians have not produced any notable results in the 2012 London Olympics.

Bosnian swimmer, Ensar Hajder, had his first appearance at the 2012 London Olympics in the 200 m individual medley on August 1. He failed to break the national record and had the worst qualifying time out of 36 competitors.

The Secretary General of the Bosnian Swimming Association, Vlado Kepcija, said in an interview with the news website Klix.ba, that Hajder did not even reach his personal best result, which was achieved four months ago.

"I expected him to beat his best score, but unfortunately that did not happen,” Kepcija said. “I can say that Ensar is a serious guy and I assume he works hard.”

Klukcija, however, says the problem is that for years the state did not invest any money in competitive swimming.

“In our country, there are around 3,600 recreational swimmers with the largest number of participants being young,” Kepcija said.

“We have loads of valuable and talented swimmers, but without a serious investment, we cannot expect better results, which would eventually be above the amateur level,” he added.

If something does not change, all those children will remain amateurs, Klukcija stated. He added that with increased support, there is potential for around 20 young people to achieve better results than the current Bosnian national team.

“The money would mean more competitions for our swimmers, the necessary licenses, better organization of competitions, and improved education of coaching staff. Then we could raise our standards,” Kepcija noted.

There are six representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the London Olympics: Amel Mekic, Lucija Kimani, Kemal Mesic, Nedzad Fazlija, Ivana Ninkovic and Ensar Hajder.